A Taupō mother of two has finally met her biological father after spending her entire life believing it was another man.
Te Ana Helleur, 41, never met the man she believed was her father after he left her mother before she was born.
The insurance consultant was raised by her grandparents as well as her mother - who always said her father was a man named Perry.
After years of wondering why Perry never wanted to be in her life, Te Ana reached out to investigative journalist David Lomas to find out the truth.
"I guess I was quite angry at the fact that he didn't want to know me, that he left my mum when she said she was pregnant," Te Ana said.
"But as I got older and had children of my own I felt like I needed to know his answers and his story as to why he didn't want to know his daughter."
Te Ana told Lomas she wanted to finally get answers and closure by meeting the man she believed was her father her entire life.
"I am hoping to hear of other family members that I may have. So just a lot of answers really. It's a link that has always been missing and it's just like closure. That, 'Yes you're my father and yes I found you' and then I can just leave it at peace."
Using the White Pages, Lomas managed to track down Perry Garthwaite who was still living in Dunedin - the city where he met Te Ana's mother.
The news wasn't a shock to Perry who said he had been willing to accept she was his daughter before she was born, but wanted a DNA test because Te Ana's mother was also involved with another man at the time.
"I've always had suspicions that she could be mine but I'm not sure," Perry told Lomas. "There was somebody else involved at the time and I walked away from that.
"We were living together in a flat in town and she never came home one night and the next night I knew where she was working and I went to the pub to try and see if she was there and ended up seeing her with this other guy. I could have gotten into a confrontation but luckily I walked away and packed my suitcase and headed back to my parent's place."
Perry said a few months later he found out she was pregnant but was worried he wasn't the father. A few months after that he was summoned to appear in Hamilton Court to pay maintenance but the case was thrown out when Te Ana's mother didn't show up. He said he had wondered over the years whether he was her dad.
"I have thought about her a lot. She's always been in the back of my mind and the older you get the more you think about things like that."
Perry never did a paternity test but was happy to do one when Lomas asked. He said if Te Ana is his daughter he would be "over the moon".
They both provided DNA for a test but unfortunately, he wasn't Te Ana's biological father. The news was a shock for Te Ana who had always believed he was.
"Devastated really. I actually thought it was him. So yeah, I have to start again," she said. "It's now gone from I want to know my father to I need to know… to get my closure."
The news also came as a disappointment to Perry but thankfully he could point Lomas in the direction of another man who could be Te Ana's father.
"I am gutted it's been 40 odd years thinking all this time that I am her father. I would still like to meet the girl if I had the opportunity because we've both had the same rollercoaster ride, but the outcome of this is not about me, it's about her finding her biological father."
Perry said he believed her father could be a man named Rick Blain - who Lomas managed to track down in Christchurch.
The news of a potential daughter didn't come completely out of the blue for Rick, who said Perry told him he might be the father all those years ago. Both Rick and Perry went to court when he was summoned to try to figure out who Te Ana's dad was but assumed it wasn't either of them when her mum didn't show up.
"My mind has been all over the place, you know, what could it have been like to have a daughter at that age… I don't know that I would have been ready for it at 19," Rick told Lomas.
But he agreed to a DNA test which showed he is Te Ana's father. The news was a huge relief to Te Ana who was ecstatic and couldn't wait to meet him.
Te Ana, who was in Dunedin meeting Perry, jumped on a plane to Christchurch to meet Rick and his other daughter Becky.
Te Ana shared a hug with Rick and Becky and was delighted to finally get her answers.
"This is amazing, this is so awesome," Te Ana said. "The journey has been a rollercoaster of emotion but it worked out really well."
It was a sentiment shared by Becky who said it was "so cool".
And for Rick, it was lovely to get to know his now adult daughter.
"She's very bubbly and she told me that she's had a great life and a happy life and a parent, or a father, in particular, all he ever wants for his children is that they're happy and safe," he said.
"The end result was what I was looking for, I've got my answer and I've got my closure and I've got a new family," Te Ana added.
Watch the full episode of David Lomas Investigates at ThreeNow. The next episode airs at 8:30pm next Wednesday on Three.
